


The Memory Looks Sweeter in a Polaroid

by ShandraNadine



Category: Super Junior, Super Junior-M
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Henry is a little bitch, Kyuhyun is an awkward turtle, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7898776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShandraNadine/pseuds/ShandraNadine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sign reads, "Today your Barista is: 1. Hella Fucking Gay 2. Desperately Single. For your drink today I recommend: You give me your number." Kyuhyun thinks Henry should start watching his back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Memory Looks Sweeter in a Polaroid

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this [post](http://zimriya.tumblr.com/post/51738163064/brolininthetardis-this-is-a-coffeeshop-au) and the need for new qmi in my life. Disclaimer: what I know from coffee shops is limited to visiting all the coffee shops in a ten mile radius of my apartment in search of the best iced chai latte. Answer: Colectivo Coffee.

Kyuhyun was flustered. 

In the last hour, he had made about 30 drinks. That wasn’t the thing that had him flustered though. He was a barista; it was his job to make drinks. It wasn’t the customers either. Kyuhyun was used to being the person between a grumpy customer and their morning coffee. 

The thing that had Kyuhyun flustered was that people kept giving Kyuhyun their numbers. 

In Kyuhyun’s opinion, he was decently attractive, but not the kind of attractive that warranted several phone numbers in one day. The first one was flattering. The third one had him using the front facing camera of his phone to see what he looked like. By the fifth one, he was looking for the hidden camera, and by number seven, he was suspecting foul play. Or Henry.

By number eight, Kyuhyun makes Henry come up front to cover while he investigates. 

The mystery is solved when Kyuhyun sees the sandwich board outside the shop entrance. It seems that Henry (who was in charge of writing the sandwich board that morning) has taken it upon himself to get involved in Kyuhyun’s love life…or lack of.

The sign reads:

Today your Barista is:

1\. Hella fucking Gay  
2\. Desperately single

For your drink today I recommend:

You give me your number. 

There’s a little stick figure that Kyuhyun assumes is supposed to be him. It looks nothing like him. 

When Kyuhyun goes back into the shop with the single goal of inflicting harm on his coworker, he is distracted by the long line that has grown since he started investigating and Henry is looking stressed. In Henry’s defense, he’s more of a baker and less of a barista so his drink making is not at Kyuhyun’s level. 

By the time the line is done, Henry has scurried to the back and Kyuhyun is stuck manning the cash register. With the morning rush over, things have significantly calmed down and there aren’t very many people left in the shop. Which is why Kyuhyun is so focused on the man as he opens the door and walks up to the counter. At least that is what he tells himself. It has nothing to do with the perfectly styled hair and the legs that seem to go on forever. 

He glances around the shop at the various photographs on the wall and other flat surfaces. Most of the pictures are ones that Kyuhyun has taken with his Polaroid camera. The owner of the shop doesn’t mind the pictures because she says it adds more character to the shop, and a coffee shop thrives on its character. Kyuhyun thinks she just likes seeing pictures of herself and her customers around the shop. 

Legs stops in front of Kyuhyun and looks up at the menu. After a few moments of deliberation, he looks back down at Kyuhyun. 

“Any suggestions?” he asks. 

Kyuhyun, not really paying too much attention to the question (he was too busy staring at the stranger’s face), says the first thing that comes to his head. 

“Coffee?”

The stranger laughs. He has a nice laugh, Kyuhyun thinks. 

“Well, I guess that’s what I get for asking what to get in a coffee shop. I’ll just have a latte.”

Kyuhyun rings him up and begins to make his drink. 

“I thought it was the baristas that usually give their numbers to customers, not the other way around?” the stranger says to Kyuhyun as he hands him his drink. 

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes as he tries to explain that it was his coworker that wrote the sandwich board and that he just hadn’t had time to clean it off yet. And that most of the numbers have started going straight into the trash. Really, this is too embarrassing and he is so going to kick Henry’s ass the moment he gets the chance. 

And then he is going to take that sign down. 

The stranger chuckles at the story and joins Kyuhyun in a brief session of badmouthing coworkers. Because they are the worst. Then he slides a slip of paper with his number on it over to Kyuhyun.

“My name is Zhou Mi, by the way. Hope you keep this one.” 

And then he winks and leaves Kyuhyun behind the counter trying to remember who he is and what he was doing. Damn. 

He keeps the number in his back pocket.

By the end of his shift, Kyuhyun has received phone numbers from a total of fourteen men and one from a woman who apparently does not understand that “hella fucking gay” meant Kyuhyun was not into women at all. Still, they all went into the trash. Except for Zhou Mi’s. 

If Kyuhyun is being completely honest, he sort of forgot that he had put Zhou Mi’s number in his pocket until he was home and changing his clothes. When he pulled it out of his pocket (along with his bus pass and a random post it note), he looked at it then left it on his dresser.

He probably wasn’t going to call Zhou Mi anyway. It wasn’t something he would normally do.

Two days later, Kyuhyun finds himself working the morning shift with Henry again. Henry is still looking smug because Kyuhyun hasn’t had a chance to get his revenge against Henry for the sign incident. What Henry doesn’t know is that Kyuhyun has plans. And revenge will happen when Henry least expects it. Kyuhyun is smiling to himself while working on his revenge plot when he sees a familiar figure walk in. 

Kyuhyun straightens up and tries to look busy and not like he was just staring off into space with an evil grin on his face. When Zhou Mi makes it up to the counter, he smiles at Kyuhyun and orders a latte. After Zhou Mi pays and Kyuhyun starts working on his drink, Zhou Mi starts chatting with Kyuhyun. They mainly talk about the weather and coffee. Safe topics for practical strangers. 

By the time that Zhou Mi’s drink is finished, Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi are so into their conversation that neither of them pay attention to Henry, who had come up to the front to put some cupcakes in the display.

“Did you throw away my number too? I never heard from you.” Zhou Mi asks, pouting a little as Kyuhyun passes him his drink.

Kyuhyun turns read and starts stuttering out an answer. He didn’t throw it away, he just hadn’t….done anything yet.

Henry’s interest is piqued and he is blatantly staring, but neither Kyuhyun or Zhou Mi are paying any attention to him. 

Zhou Mi smiles at Kyuhyun. His face literally lights up, Kyuhyun thinks. Who is this guy? 

“Well, in that case, you should definitely text me tonight!”

“I…uh. Well, I….um. Okay?” is Kyuhyun’s intelligent response. Henry openly laughs at him, and Kyuhyun finally notices Henry. He shuffles away at Kyuhyun’s glare, and Kyuhyun vows to make his revenge ten times worse. 

When he turns his attention back to Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi is still smiling at Kyuhyun expectantly. 

“I’ll uh, text you tonight then.”

Zhou Mi’s smile lights up the room again and Kyuhyun decides he is definitely going to text Zhou Mi tonight. Damn.

After Zhou Mi leaves, Henry comes back out and starts interrogating Kyuhyun about that “hot Chinese guy”. 

“He was Chinese wasn’t he? His accent was cute, wasn’t it Kyuhyun?” 

Kyuhyun decides he hates Henry.

“This is all your fault,” is all he actually says to Henry before pushing him back to the kitchen as a group of students come in. 

Later that night, Kyuhyun is looking at his phone as if it is a bomb that is about to go off. After his shift at the coffee shop, Henry left him with a semi-threat. If he didn’t text Zhou Mi tonight, Henry was going to tell Sungmin and Heechul about Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun didn’t want that did he? Sungmin and Heechul would be ten times worse when it came to discussing Kyuhyun’s (nonexistent) love life. They weren’t scared off by a glare like Henry was. 

Kyuhyun picked up the phone to text Zhou Mi. He really did not want Sungmin and Heechul to know about this.

To Zhou Mi [08:39]  
Hey is this Zhou Mi?

No that’s dumb.

To Zhou Mi [08:40]  
This is Kyuhyun from the coffee shop today. 

Ugh. Emojis are the worst. This should not be hard. 

To Zhou Mi [08:42]  
Hey! It’s Kyuhyun. You gave me your number a couple days ago after my dumbass coworker told the world I was single and to give me their number.

Ugh seriously. This should not be that hard. What the hell are you supposed to text someone when they give you their number? This is so dumb.

To Zhou Mi [08:58]  
Hey Zhou Mi. It’s Kyuhyun from the coffee shop. 

To Kyuhyun [08:59]  
Omg! Hey! I didn’t think you would actually text. I’m so glad you did though.

Somehow Kyuhyun makes it through the whole conversation without making too much of a fool of himself and they set up a time to meet later in the week at a coffee shop. But not the one where Kyuhyun works, because he doesn’t see that going over well. 

Their date goes extremely well. Much better than Kyuhyun thought. He learns that Zhou Mi is in fact from China and has lived in Seoul since he was 18. He also learns that Zhou Mi is a professor of Linguistics at a nearby university and likes to marathon dramas on the weekend and also hang out with his friends. 

Kyuhyun tells Zhou Mi that he also likes to watch dramas and that he went to school for photography. He does freelance photography and works at the coffee shop to help pay the bills. At this, Zhou Mi brightens.

“Oh! Did you take those pictures in the shop?” at Kyuhyun’s nod, he continues, “I love those pictures they look so cool. Why are they Polaroids though? That seems a little old school.”

“I love taking pictures with the Polaroid camera. Not only is it satisfying to get the picture printed right away, but I’ve always thought the memory looks sweeter in a Polaroid.” Kyuhyun blushes a little. “Sorry that was really cheesy.”

Zhou Mi chuckles, “No, I liked it. I definitely agree, memories do seem sweeter in pictures. Maybe next time you can bring your camera?”

Kyuhyun smiles, “I’d like that.” 

At the end of their date, Zhou Mi walks Kyuhyun to his door. 

“I had a great time tonight. I’m so glad you kept my number.” 

Kyuhyun starts fidgeting with his keys, but he is still smiling. “Me too. I had a great time.”

After a couple awkward moments, Kyuhyun sighs, “Well I guess I will see you soon…”

As Kyuhyun turns to unlock his door, Zhou Mi grabs his arm. “Wait…”

He leans closer to Kyuhyun to kiss him, silently asking Kyuhyun’s consent. In response, Kyuhyun closes the distance between the two. After a sweet kiss, they both pull back smiling. 

“I’ve been waiting to do that since I gave you my number,” Zhou Mi says, still smiling. 

Kyuhyun chuckled, “If I’m being completely honest, I’ve been wanting to do that since you walked in that first day.”

A few weeks and several dates later, Zhou Mi comes into the coffee shop towards the end of Kyuhyun’s shift to pick him up for their date. He’s met with Kyuhyun bickering with Henry behind the counter. 

“All I’m saying,” he hears Henry say, “is that if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be smiling all goofy and waiting for Legs to get here so you guys can go on your date. So really, you should be thanking me and not plotting revenge for that sign.”

“That sign still caused a lot of drama for me. Did you know that Heechul saw the sign and told Sungmin? I still haven’t heard the end of it. They were brutal.” Kyuhyun grumbled.

“Did you just call me Legs?” Zhou Mi interrupts, addressing Henry. 

Henry just smiles and heads towards the back of the store. 

“Yep! Have a good time with Grumpy.”

Kyuhyun just rolls his eyes.

“But Legs? Why is that my nickname?” Zhou Mi asks Kyuhyun as he packs up. 

Kyuhyun chuckles and gives him a peck on the lips. “It’s because you have legs that go on for miles. But don’t worry, I think it’s one of your best physical attributes. Let me go grab my camera and then we can go,” Kyuhyun says while walking to the back, leaving a sputtering Zhou Mi behind to collect himself. 

As they walk out of the shop, Zhou Mi asks Kyuhyun where he wants to go to take pictures. 

“Well, we could go to the park and take some pictures there. Or we could go back to my apartment.”

Zhou Mi starts smirking, “Oh? And what’s so great about going to your apartment to take pictures?”

“Clothes are optional,” Kyuhyun says smiling.

“Well, in that case, let’s see if Polaroids really do make the memory sweeter.”


End file.
